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Description: Re-reading ‘region’ and the challengeswhile addressing the issue of sustainable development goals is a paradigm shiftthat has gain attention and interest among the developmental researchers focusin...

Re-reading ‘region’ and the challengeswhile addressing the issue of sustainable development goals is a paradigm shiftthat has gain attention and interest among the developmental researchers focusing on man-environment relationship. While defining developmental strategies understanding the space entity is inevitablein designing and maintaining regional uniformity. The challenges in pursuit are embedded in space and thereby understanding the socio-physical characteristic of a region has become inevitable in achieving sustainable developmental goals.

Re-reading ‘region’ and the challengeswhile addressing the issue of
sustainable development goals is a paradigm shiftthat has gain attention and
interest among the developmental researchers focusing on man-environment
relationship. While defining developmental strategies understanding the
space entity is inevitablein designing and maintaining regional uniformity.
The challenges in pursuit are embedded in space and thereby understanding
the socio-physical characteristic of a region has become inevitable in
achieving sustainable developmental goals.

Introduction:Series of global initiatives, in the past and recent decades, were takenin the path of achieving sustainable
development. The United Nation Conference on Human Environment (UNCHE, 1972) popularly known as
Stockholm Declaration, United Nation Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992) known as
Earth Summit, World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002) known as Johannesburg plan of Implementation,
United Nation Conference on Sustainable Development (2012) are some of the initiatives. In September 2015,
United Nation General Assembly adopted the 2030 development agenda known as ‘transforming our world’. These
initiatives aim at achieving sustainable developmental goals that are discussed in Millennium Development Goals.
The main debate that centers’ around in meeting sustainable development challenges are the contribution that
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide. Due to the fact that Millennium Development Goals (MDG) have
over the last 10-15 years directed worldwide attention to neglected global social issues and have triggered much
research in the wide range of disciplines. Though MDGs show positive resultsin some countries, the poorer
countries are far from sufficient. Eight International Development Goals that were established following the
Millennium Summit of UN in 2000 are; eradication of poverty and hunger, universal primary education, promote
gender equality & empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS&
other disease, ensure environmental sustainability, develop a global partnership for development.
According to millennium report, the world has made significant progress in achieving these goals between 1990 and
2002 average overall incomes increased by approximately 21 percent. The number of people in extreme poverty
declined by an estimated 130 million, Child mortality rates fell from 103 deaths per 1,000 live births a year to 88.
Life expectancy rose from 63 years to nearly 65 years. An additional 8 percent of the developing world's people
received access to water. And an additional 15 percent acquired access to improved sanitation services (millennium
report 2002-2006). But the mammoth challenges ahead in this regards is the progress has been far from uniform
across the world. There are huge disparities within countries; poverty is greatest for rural areas, though urban
poverty is also extensive, growing, and underreported by traditional indicators. Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter
of crisis, with continuing food insecurity, a rise of extreme poverty, stunningly high child and maternal mortality

and large numbers of people living in slums, and a widespread shortfall for most of the MDGs. Asia is the region
with the fastest progress, but even there hundreds of millions of people remain in extreme poverty, and even fastgrowing countries fail to achieve some of the non-income Goals. Other regions have mixed records, notably Latin
America, the transition economies, and the Middle East and North Africa, often with slow or no progress on some of
the Goals and persistent inequalities undermining progress on others.
The millenniumgoals, among diversesocio-economic and cultural entity, ensure an overall social development by
reaching to the level reflecting positive approach in the concept of sustainable development. But the main argument
lies with implementing the process ofdevelopmental strategies while maintaining uniformity across the regions.
Particular type of developmental strategies existing in one region might not fit in other region due to the fact of
socio-physical diversity. Understanding the geography of the region becomes utmost importance in dealing with the
issue of developmental challenges. The challenges posed by many factor; social, political, economic as well as
physical entity. Thus the present paper seeks to address the concept of region while explaining developmental
strategies in pursuit of sustainable development.

Regions and Planning:Theconcept of regions has always been of central importance to geography and other discipline that study earth
reference phenomena. It revolves around the central theme of man-environment relation. Although geographer’s
relative emphasis on ideographic description of unique places versus nomothetic explanation of abstract truth has
varied greatly over time, the generalization understood broadly has remained importance.
A region is defined as a part of the Earth’s surface with one or many similar characteristics that make it unique from
other areas. Regional geography studies the specific unique characteristics of places related to their culture,
economy, topography, climate, politics and environmental factors such as their different species of flora and fauna.
Region is also defined as a mosaic due to the fact that different regions representing different pieces of colored glass
joined together. Thus it represents physical features that is by nature distinct from one another, but intrinsically
related to each other. Due to this diversity, a systematic and regional approach is required while dealing with the
issue of sustainable development. The regional planning would help in identifying the spatial entity that is necessary
for designing strategies in achieving goals.
Regional planning is an essential part of the new regional institutional architecture because sustainable development
has been at the heart of recent debates about how best to develop regions over the next quarter century. Planning role
is sometimes under-emphasized in the recent literature on regionalism, yet the continuing role in statutory regulatory
apparatus of the state suggests that it should not be dismissed so casually. Another aspect in sustainable challenges is
the regional attributes where the governance is localized. Increasing educational statistics by providing institutions
and machineries has been initiated in many rural India reflecting the growth literacy rate. Initiative in cutting down
uses of non-renewable resources, like coal, petroleum and so forth has also contributed to certain extent. But the
strategies adopted in developed countries would not similar to that of the developing countries considering the
economic status as well as the human resource. While deliberating on the issue of sustainable development goals in
various fields in pursuit for meeting sustainable development challenges; understanding the geographical spatial
attributes has become inevitable. In this regard the geographical space becomes the central theme in the regional
planning.
Space,defined as a physical entity, has a close relationship with human activities that influence the attributes of
social and economic aspect. Understanding the spatial distribution of resources in terms of human and economic
becomes inevitable in defining the role of good governance. The regional development is unevenly distributed in
many countries reflecting the need of achieving regional uniformity in developmental process for sustainable
development. Indian, in particular, sustainable development goals in achieving food security, ensuring quality
education, improving health sector and so forth are correlated with the country economic status. But within the
country it represents diverse physical regions that affect the economy. For instances, western region comprising state
of Punjab, Haryana are listed as productive due to physical factor while the eastern region represent subsistence
agriculture due to physical factor. Statistics shows regional imbalances in regards to education, agricultural
productivity, and industrial location and in the availability of resources, physical landscape as well. In this kind of
diverse socio-economic and cultural set up the process of developmental strategies would differ from one region to
the other.

Conclusion:World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 popularly known as Brundtland commission envisage
the ‘ability’ and ‘human needs’ as the main agenda, where it defined sustainable development as a ‘development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.
While the issue of ‘development’is a holistic approach, the main feature is the close relationship of man and
environment. Considering the ‘needs of man’ and ensuring the ‘needs of the present’ has become the developmental
agenda. But measurement for the ‘needs’ is defined by the demographic feature of a particular region. This reflect
the man-land relationship in the preview of developmental agendas not only related to environmental issue but the
social relationship. The socio-political stability of a region becomes an important factor for ensuring sustainable
development that reflects understanding and cooperation in achieving mutual goals. Thus a region express in terms
of geographical space is not only a physical entity but also an important agent in understanding the various attributes
of economic, social, ecological and institutional aspect that is required for implementation of developmental
strategies in achieving sustainable development goals.